The Staple Center was hyped for the 1,239th episode of Monday Night Raw. The live crowd was not only excited for a night of unexpected WWE action, but they also go to be participants in a movie shoot after Raw as “Fighting With My Family” used the ring after the live show concluded.
“Fighting With My Family” is a WWE Studios and Seven Bucks Productions film, therefore The Rock is in the house, so nothing was off the table. At any moment, The People’s Champ could pop up around any corner, therefore there was a specific kind of anticipation with every passing moment.
The show opened with a George “The Animal” Steele tribute and snazzy package showing the events of last week’s Festival of Friendship when Kevin Owens pop-up powerbombed our hearts.
Opening Segment
The live show kicked off with Kevin Owens already in the ring with a spotlight on him. Owens was sitting backwards in a chair like a cool camp counselor with an intense expression on his face and wearing a suit, the suit deal was strange… he’s looking a lot like a Triple H crony at this point. Owens had a ton of heat on him and the members of this crowd were laying down the Goldberg chants during his promo.
Owens addressed his match with Goldberg and said that when people chant “Goldberg” it makes him think that everybody believes the hype, but he doesn’t. Kevin said that Goldberg never impressed him, even as a kid when he would watch him on television. He said that “Bill” got lucky because Brock Lesnar didn’t take him seriously at Survivor Series and he’s going to walk out of Fastlane as the Universal Champion because he doesn’t have to beat Bill, he only has to outlast him.
Owens then pointed out Goldberg’s fatal flaw: he can’t last long in a match. He said that it’s a known fact that the longer a match goes means that the odds get further against him. He said that he’s waited his entire life to become a WWE champion and there’s nothing he wouldn’t do to keep it that way.
Owens then said that he was going to prove that superheroes don’t exist and he got off his chair. He said that Goldberg was nothing, and when he brought up Jericho’s name the crowd began to cheer and chant for Y2J. Instead of saying anything, Kevin simply dropped the mic and left.
Fantastic opening segment. Just amazing promo work.
Enzo and Cass vs. Cesaro and Sheamus – #1 Contender’s Match
This match was so important that it got it’s own article. If you’re awesome and want to read it, just click somewhere in this general area.
Backstage Segment
Kevin Owens was backstage and Mick Foley told him he wasn’t leaving because he had a match with Sami Zayn tonight. 2 points here. 1: Sami is feuding with Samoa Joe, and Joe is supposed to be in this epic heel stable with Owens and Triple H. 2: I thought that we were never going to get KO vs. Sami again? Oh well, so much for continuity in professional wrestling.
Kevin Owens said something about hurting everyone on the roster. Neat backstage segment
They played a package to remind us that Raw ended on a happy note last week with Bayley winning the Raw Women’s Championship.
Mick Foley is shown backstage and Roman Reigns shows up saying that as soon as the main event is over, he’s going after Braun Strowman. Then The Club showed up and said they wanted a match against the Big Dog so Foley booked that handicap match again.
Cruiserweight Match – Brian Kendrick vs. Akira Tozawa
This writer is excited about this feud because Kendrick and Tozawa are amazing. Kendrick tried to offer a handshake but hit Tozawa with a clothesline when he wasn’t looking. Before we knew it, Kendrick locked in his Captain’s Hook finisher before the bell even rang. He left Akira in the ring, grabbed his coat, and left.
That was… something.
The Brian Kendrick then cut a nice promo backstage about respect.
Roman Reigns vs. The Club – 2 on 1 Handicap Match
The camera tried really hard to keep the guy in the front holding a sign that said “Delete Roman” out of the shot, then Kevin Dunn cut to a close shot of a woman holding an “I (Heart) Roman Sign.” She’s not a plant at all.
The Club came down looking for business and got right to it as soon as the bell rang. Roman ended up hitting Anderson with the drive-by, but Reigns didn’t have the upper hand for long. This writer is beginning to worry that WWE is only going to book Roman to get dominated if it’s a handicap match.
Roman dodged out of the way of the “boot of doom” and tried to take the match back over, then Luke Gallows grabbed a chair. Roman knocked the chair out of his hands, picked up the chair, and started beating the unholy crap out of The Club with it. The referee rang the bell, and Roman lost via DQ.
Gallows ended up squaring off against Reigns, but he was put down with a Superman punch, and Anderson was taken down with a spear as he jumped off the top rope on Roman.
If Vince says that “Cena must pose”, then he must say “Roman must stare intently with wet hair.”
The New Day vs. Handsome Rusev and Jinder Mahal
Big E and his compadres came out and danced while he poured two $35 boxes of cereal on people in the crowd. Then Xavier got on the microphone and plugged his YouTube channel, and the fact that New Day wanted to be the hyenas in the new Lion King movie, and that they’re still working on New Day ice-cream.
Kofi said that they put their ice cream plans back together and made them digital. This writer smells a Russian hacker gimmick coming. Lana then brought an iPad out of nowhere and began to read the plans because she stole them.
Big E made a comment about the fact that Lana’s Russian and the crowd erupted in laughter. Not sure whether or not they thought the joke was funny, or the fact that we’re still supposed to believe that she’s actually Russian.
Fret not, though, because Xavier Woods ended up stealing Lana’s iPad and destroying it during the match. New Day hit the Midnight Hour to win the match clean.
They aired a really good memorial package for George “The Animal” Steele. Hit this writer in the feels.
Cruiserweight Championship Contract Signing
Austin Aries was in the ring to host the signing, he was joined by Gentleman Jack Gallagher complete with tea and biscuits. Gallagher signed the contract without any problems, but those troubles would soon pick up as Neville came down to the ring. Neville got in the ring, signed the contract, and turned to leave.
Gallagher stopped Neville and said that since they’re both British he figured that they could have a “cupper” while the LA crowd began to chant “tea and biscuits.” Neville told Jack that he was acting like a British stereotype and called him a cartoon. He said the real streets of London were ugly and rough around the edges like him.
Neville then said that the crowd is laughing at him and not with him. Gallagher said that he’s not playing a gentleman, he is a gentleman. Gentleman Jack said he won’t stand for Adrian Neville acting like he’s better than anyone else and Neville tossed the table to the side sending the tea and biscuits flying.
Gallagher attacked Neville, and the King of The Cruiserweights ran away.
Neat promo, we liked their accents.
Nia Jax vs. Some Poor Soul
Sarah Pearce was the name of this week’s jobber and she lost this match. No big surprise here, because Nia Jax is a monster.
After the match, she was asked about the controversy surrounding Bayley’s win last week. Jax said that the only controversy is the fact that she hasn’t gotten a title shot yet. Nia then put the champion on notice.
Bayley Segment
This segment was so nifty that we did an entire article for it, you can find that here.
Charlotte vs. Sasha Banks
Charlotte and Sasha have faced each other so often and they’ve treated fans to the same beautiful match time and time again. They’re both so good and work very well together. There won’t be much complaining from people who love good wrestling unless they also love variety.
Charlotte got the upper hand and took Banks to the woodshed for a bit, but Banks came back and got a near fall. Bayley got on the commentary booth and Cole began to halfway interview Bayley and commentate on the match at the same time.
Sasha hit Charlotte with some double knees to the floor just as Dana Brooke made her way to the ring. Bayley intercepted Brooke and kept her occupied which gave Sasha the chance to slap the Banks Statement on Char-Char and Ric Flair’s daughter tapped out.
Clean win for The Boss over the baddie here.
They aired a promo about Diamond Dallas Page being inducted in the WWE Hall of Fame next.
Kevin Owens vs. Sami Zayn (Kinda)
Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn didn’t even get to lock up as Samoa Joe ambushed The Underdog From The Underground before he made it down the ramp. Joe bounced Sami off of the ring post and applied several stiff looking fists to Zayn’s head region. He hit a downed Sami with a senton, grabbed him, yelled “This is your word now!” in his face, and threw him in the ring.
Kevin Owens just stood over Sami and let him get to his feet. Owens immediately hit him with a clothesline and two cannonballs in the corner. KO then mounted Sami and started to apply some more fists to his face.
KO hit SZ with a pop-up powerbomb and got the quick win.
Sami Zayn and Kevin Owens are great together, but it’s like when you discover your favorite pizza topping. The first time blows you away, but every time after that it’s just like you’re eating your favorite pizza again. It’s no big deal, it’s still your favorite, but it’s nothing too special or different. At least we only got a personal pan pizza tonight on Raw.
Stephanie McMahon and Mick Foley are backstage and have a little argument which ends in Steph making a veiled threat to Foley about her not wanting Mickers to have an accident. She said that she didn’t want him to trip over a cord on the floor, I think she was mistaking him for JBL there.
Brock Lesnar Backstage Interview
Paul Heyman did all of the talking for Lesnar and talked up the match against Goldberg. Heyman said that Goldberg and Owens’ match at Fastlane affects Lesnar. Brock then took Michael Cole’s seat and brought it right up to the camera. As Heyman continued with his promo about Kevin Owens vs. Goldberg, Lesnar kept making faces while Heyman talked about what Lesnar agrees with.
It was a very short interview, but it was nevertheless effective.
Speaking of Goldberg, he’ll be at Raw next week as well as an interview with Seth Rollins about his injury. That should be fun.
Braun Strowman vs. Big Show
They showed the ring crew “reinforcing” the ring, which meant that they pulled harder at some of the cords under the apron. As cool as it is to see Braun vs. Show like this, it is kind of puzzling as to exactly why this match was main eventing when they could have had the Sami vs. Kevin match at the end of the night which would end with a Samoa Joe beatdown.
Regardless of what makes more sense, these two men started off by shoving each other around in a test of strength for a minute. Then, the battle of the beards took it to another level as Strowman kipped up from an arm hold. That was pretty impressive. Big Show hooked the back of Braun’s leg and shoved him backward, tripping him and sending him down to the mat.
Strowman hit Show with a stiff looking right handed clothesline and the giant was rocked. Braun started to pick Big Show apart at that point. He hit him with a splash and kicked him with a running big boot.
Strowman went for another running clothesline in the corner, but Show grabbed him by the neck for a chokeslam. Braun countered it with a DDT and got a close two-count.
Everything Big Show tried seemed to get countered by Strowman. Big Show blocked a suplex and sent it the other way on Strowman.
Big Show hit Strowman with a couple big boots, a splash or two in the corner, and then bumped Strowman down. Big Show then hit Strowman with the chokeslam but only got a two-count.
Show places Strowman on the top turnbuckle and looked like he was going for a superplex. The only thing this writer could think was that they can’t break the ring because they need to use it for filming that movie after the show. Show ended up getting knocked down, but as Strowman went for a flying move on Show, he knocked him out of the sky with a KO Punch for a two-count.
Big Show went for his second-rope splash but Braun got underneath him, hoisted him up, and hit him with the running powerslam. But, Big Show kicked out of that too. The Monster Among Men took down his tank top straps, hit Show with another running powerslam and got the three-count. But, instead of playing Braun’s music, Roman Reigns’ music started playing.
Roman hit Strowman with a Superman punch, but as he went for the spear, Braun hit him with a beautiful dropkick to the face.
Braun hit Roman Reigns with the running powerslam and left him in the ring to end the night.
It was a very good night of Raw, even though we didn’t get The Rock at least we got a surprisingly good main event between Big Show and Braun Strowman. We also have two new matches set for Fastlane, and it’s always fun to know what to expect from a pay-per-view.
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